Detroit’s People Mover: seizing the opportunity to correct a mistake

“The People Mover operates at a high cost per rider. The system was designed to move up to 15 million riders a year, yet in 2008 saw just over 2 million riders. In fiscal year 1999-2000 the city was spending $3.00 for every $0.50 rider fare, according to The Detroit News. The system has also required costly repairs. In October 1998, the demolition of the Hudson’s building damaged the track, closing the People Mover for two months, with full service not restored until the following year. Renovation at the General Motors headquarters at the GM Renaissance Center kept the People Mover from offering full-circuit operation from September 2002 to September 2004. In 2006, the Mover (which costs $12 million annually in city and state subsidies to run) filled less than 10 percent of its seats.[10]”

He called it “public transit done wrong.” It may seem that way to the lay person, but he was shocked to learn that a farebox recovery ratio (the amount covered by the passenger fare vs. the total actual cost of each ride) of 15% isn’t too unusual. That’s roughly the same ratio as the Staten Island Railway, a service that first started operation in 1860. Would he call that “public transit done wrong?”

From a planning perspective, yes, the People Mover is a failure because its major flaw was that it didn’t transport people from home to work, rather just around a commerical downtown core. But think about it: this was the thinking in Detroit at the time. Nobody in Detroit wanted to get people out of their cars. That mindset is starting to change within (what’s left of) Detroit’s urban core, but it’s still like pulling teeth from the wealthier Wayne County residents who work for (what’s left of) the Big 3 automakers.

If Detroit ever manages to get its act together and start its rebirth, the people mover could be the cornerstone of a public transit system. To spawn redevelopment, a streetcar line is in planning stages. The streetcar would connect to the people mover, allowing commuters to reach downtown office buildings easily.

Outside of downtown, Detroit is practically a blank slate. There’s huge potential for Detroit if the city and the state of Michigan can organize to support rebuilding the city through tax incentives and infrastructure investment that includes making the People Mover a building block for a new Detroit. It could take as long as it may take to find a new and successful business model for the outmoded automakers (streetcars, anyone?), but it’s an opportunity the city should not miss before Detroit runs the risk of putting a “closed” sign on City Hall.

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7 Responses

If you hadn’t noticed the state of Michigan is having a bit of a financial problem and the city of Detroit has been at death’s door for decades.

The people that work in downtown Detriot don’t live in Detriot and the last thing they want is cheap and easy access to their suburban homes that might allow the actual residents of Detriot to get out to their fancy pants suburbs.

I think you’re missing my point here. I’m specifically talking about using public transit as a means for bringing people into Detroit to live and work. The streetcar plan is entirely within the city limits, and the purpose is to, very slowly, create a place where people can live and work. Detroit is a clean slate… cheap land and an unemployed skilled workforce could easily help transform the city with transit-oriented development. You can’t sit on your hands and say that Detroit is a lost cause because of its 40-year decline.

Like I said, it’s not going to happen overnight. But it’s possible with an investment from public and private sources. The effort to start a streetcar is actually being funded by private sources who believe in Detroit’s future (yes, some of those people exist).

By the way, the subtle classism and racism in your comment is very fitting of the attitude that started this crisis in the first place.

Only one of (what’s left of) the Big Three automakers is in Detroit. Ford is 11 miles west in Dearborn. Chrysler is 22 miles north in Rochester Hills. Asian transplants (Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan) are 40 miles west, in or near Ann Arbor, where I sit writing this.

Unfortunately, the Detroit metro area is a poster child for the planning policies that supported the suburban freeway commute. That reality, coupled with the staggering fiscal challenges at the regional and state level, make meaningful tax incentives and infrastructure investment for commuter rail at least a bit of fiction, and more likely a fantasy, for the foreseeable future.

This is a tragedy in slow motion, evidence at ground zero of the inexorable decline and failure of the supremacy of the private transport ideology as interpreted by Detroit’s automakers, who rode the American version – Bigger is Better and Biggest Is Best – all the way to shore.

No strategy lasts forever. We will see which of these companies survive to compete with public transit in the new era of Small (and Clean) is Beautiful.

Hence, it is advisable to make your bookings beforehand so
that you do not get disappointed later. The use of
ferries is nothing new; in fact, it has been around since the days of the
Roman”s when the ferry was used to transport horse and chariots across the water of Lake Champlain. ” Yes indeed there
are; there are also those who may wish to use your transport
for less honourable reasons.

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About the Author

Chris O'Leary is a transportation geek who has been reading and drawing maps since the age of 3. He thinks he knows far more than he does, but shares his somewhat informed opinions about mass transit, roads, and urban design here. He was born in Rhode Island and lives in New York City. He hates writing about himself in the third person.